Content Analysis of a Social Protection Toolkit for Local Government Unit Officials

Abstract

This study was undertaken to determine the usefulness of a social protection toolkit for local government officials in promoting social insurance schemes in the communities. Specifically, the study sought to: 1) determine the knowledge level of LGU officials in social protection; 2) analyzed modules of the social protection toolkit and find out the themes that received more emphasis and which themes did not; 3) describe the process of developing the social protection toolkit for LGU officials; and 4) provide useful, in-depth information as feedback on the development of toolkit as learning materials.

The study made use of quantitative and qualitative analysis to determine the design and development of modules for the social protection toolkit. Training needs assessment with the use of a questionnaire was done to determine the LGU officials’ learning needs, preferences, and current abilities on social protection. Content analysis was used to determine the quantitative characteristics of each module based on presence or attention given to each theme, the frequency in which they appeared, and explanation devoted to them.

Results of the study revealed the limited knowledge and understanding of LGU officials; they referred social protection to social security and familiarity was based on the social security laws like Employees Compensation Act, Government Service Insurance Act, and National Health Insurance Act. They have very limited experiences in the implementation of social protection programs in the municipality. In spite of this, the LGU officials signified their interest to introduce social protection in their communities.

Content analyses of the four modules were based on the following themes: social protection, social security, health insurance, risks, vulnerabilities, poverty, and workers. Results of the analyses showed the presence of all themes in almost all of the modules. The frequencies of the theme showed social protection and risks as the most recurring themes in all modules, however, poverty theme recorded low frequency in all modules. Similarly, vulnerabilities, social security, and workers revealed low frequency and even absence of the themes in some of the modules. Most of the analysis on fullness noted low ratings in all themes due to limited or absence of explanations devoted to the themes.

The overall analysis of the contents of the modules showed the need to improve discussions given to the themes which yielded low ratings on fullness and frequency. The modules of the social protection toolkit as self-learning materials should provide comprehensive explanations on low rating themes to address the needs of LGU officials in improving their limited knowledge and understanding on social protection concepts as well as their limited experiences in the implementation of social protection programs.

Content analysis could be included as one of the processes in developing learning materials to determine the characteristics of contents and their effects to the users. Further evaluation studies on toolkits need to be done to determine usefulness and effectiveness of these materials as “self-paced” learning materials.